Furnace.



SAMUEL T. BLEYER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE HAWLEY DOWN DRAFT FURNACE COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPO- RATION OF ILLINOIS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

' FURNACE.

' Patented. Dec. 25, 1906.

Application filed July 12, 1904:. Serial No. 216,241.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL T. BLEYER, a

I citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Furnaces, ofwhich the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to boiler-furnaces of the downdraft type, such as the well-known Hawley downdraft-furnace; and the object thereof is to provide means for preventing injury to and deterioration of the side walls of the furnace-chamber and to incidentally increase the heating-surface.

In the usual and well-known downdraftfurnaces, particularly of the Hawley'type re- 7 ferred to, the side walls of the furnace-chamher are composed of fire-brick or the like,

which is exposeddirectly to the fire and body,

of the fuel, with the result that the brick is in time burned out and that, moreover, in respect to those side wallsadjacent and above e usual water-grate bars clinkers adhere thereto, so that when such clinkers are removed by the fireman the skin or some of the body of the brick adhering to the clinkers will also be removed, besides whichthe' brick is liable to be injured in the use of the fireman s clinker-bar. Conse uently in the course of a comparatively s ort time the bricks have to be renewed, which is of course done at a considerable expense.

According to my present invention I overcome the ,difiiculties mentioned and inci-- dentally obtain increased heating-surface by lining the side walls with water-tubes, which will be exposed directly to the fire and fuel and from which the clinkers may \be knocked ofi or removed with ease and without damage toanydpart of the furnace.

A secon videone or more furnaces of the downdraft type with 'simple and efficient mechanism for constantly feeding coal from a supplyhopper or the like and providing such mechanism with means for feeding either one or more of said furnaces from a single hopper.

Another object of my invention is to so construct and arrange the manifolds and watertubes and their connections that thesame may be assembled at the sho and be ready for instant use at the place 0 installation, with the result that no steam-fitting or the like is required to bedone in the fieldobject of my invention is to pro' In the drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of a furnace. embodying my improvements, such section being taken through theline 1 of Fig. 2; and Fig. 2, a sectional elevation of such furnace, such section being taken on the line 2 of Fig. 1 and illustrating the furnace in .elevation after the boilerfront is removed.

For the purpose of aifordinga clear and comprehensive understanding of my' improvements I have shown my furnace applied to a boiler which in the particular instance is of the Scotch marine type, although it will be understood that a furnace embodying my improvements may be applied to and adapted for use in connection with practically all constructions of boiler. It will therefore be understood that I do not limit "myself to the particular application nor to the particular construction of furnace herein illustrated.

The furnace proper (marked 1) is provided in its interior with the two series of upper and lower drums or manifolds 2 and 3, which are respectively connected with the sets of water-tubes 4 and 5, the latter of which constitute a water-grate and in the particular instance herein shown constitute the upper grate. the particularinstance arranged parallel to each other and have an inclination or pitch downwardly from the rear to the front of the furnace, as clearly indicated in the drawings. The sets of manifolds or drums communicate with each other through the medi- .um of the front and rear boxes 6, there being cent the side walls of the fire or fuel chamber which is formed between the upper and lower sets of water-tubes 4 and 5.

These water-tubes are in The construction and arrangement'of manithat in the present instance the water-tubes are arranged parallel, the resulting structure being, in effect, a parallelogram, as clearly shown in Fig. 1.

The water-tubesy5 constitute the upper grate, through which the fuel passes, falling upon the lower grate 7, composed, as shown,

boiler-front or, according to the present construction, from a supply-hopper affording a gravity-feed, as hereinafter explained. In the present construction either method feeding the fuel may be practiced. As already suggested, the sides of the furnace-chamber immediately above and adjacent the upper fire-grate have heretofore been made of fire-brick exposed directly to the fuel and fire and liable to become incrusted with clinkers and liable also to become damaged and in time destroyed by the fireman in the removal of the clinkers and incrustations. To overcome this difficulty, which is serious and annoying in practice, I arrange a series of supplemental water-tubes along these side walls, but adjacent the upper or fuel chamber, above the water-tube grate, and the lower or fire chamber, above the firegrate. Referring first to those supplemental tubes for the fuel-chamber, such tubes (marked 8) are connected with the vertical boxes 6, and thereby form a kind of lining for such walls to protect them against the accumulation of clinkers and the damage consequent upon the removal thereof. These supplemental water-tubes thus communicat ing with the front and rear vertical boxes 6 and being exposed to the heat of the furnacechamber above the upper water-grate serve as additional heating-surface. As usual the lower front manifold 3 communicates with uptake-pipes 9, which in turn communicate with the boiler through the horizontal pipes 10, such uptake-pipes being located adjacent the side walls of the furnace. As clearly indicated in Fig. 1, however, the lower back manifold 3 is somewhat different than usual in that it is provided toward its ends with depending pipes or legs 11, which are closed at their lower ends. Between the respective depending pipes 11 and the uptakes 9 and against the sidewalls of the lower or fire chamber are arranged two series of supplemental water-tubes 12,,forming the second set thereof, similar in general arrangement, inclination, and function to the supplemental set 8. These tubes 12 are inclined downwardly from back to front the same as the other tubes 8 and the grates, so that said arts are all parallel. The water from the boiler circulates upwardly in the uptake-pipe and passes rearwardly through-the two sets of tubes 8 and 12, as well as through the water-grate tubes and the upper set of tubes 4.

The lowermost ones of the set of tubes 12 being connected with the depending legs or extensions 11 near their lower ends, the water in such legs is always in active circulation, so that practically no sediment can accumulate; but, if desired, blow-offs 13 of suitable construction may be provided in such lower ends. By the provision of these supplemental water-tubes the furnace-chambers are substantially inclosed on all sides by the water-tubes, water-grates, and. manifolds, thereby securing the maximum heating-surface. Again, according to the present construction it is possible to assemble the manifolds, water-tubes, and boxes in one complete structure or unit at the factory or shop and to ship it in that condition to the place of use or installation, so that only the masonry or brickwork needs to be done after the metal structure has been erected.

In the present instance I have illustrated novel and efiicient means for automatically supplying or. feeding the fuel to the furnace. As herein shown, such means comprise a fuelhopper 14:, from which lead downwardly three legs or spouts 15, whose lower ends communicate with the openings 1 in the top of the furnace and directly upon the upper set of water-tubes 4, between which the coal or other fuel passes and enters the fire and fuel chamber therebelow. As more particularly shown in Fig. 2, the lower end of the hopper is provided with a pair of dampers 16,

meeting half-wayin the opening in such end of the hopper and together arranged to close such opening when in their inward position. These dampers are operatively connected at their outer ends with similar bell-cranks 17, pivoted in suitable manner upon opposite sides of the hopper. I11 addition to this control of the hopper each spout 15 thereof has its own independently arranged and operating damper or valve 18,'arranged to bc slid inwardly to close the opening at the end of the spouts by means of bell-cranks 19, from whose outer ends depend pull-rods 20, affording the fireman means for readily manipulating such dampers. It is obvious that any one or all of the spouts may be closed by operating the particular damper or dampers and also that the supply of fuel to all of the spouts may be simultaneously cut off by operating the main damper 16. The supplyhopper with its plurality of spouts may operate in connection with a single furnace having a wide fuel-chamber or in connection with several individual furnaces. The hopper and spouts are made so as to be readily removable in order to permit the front of the boiler to be taken off and access had to the interior thereof for the purpose of cleaning the tubes, &c.

I claim 1. In a downdraft-furnace, the combination of front and rear manifolds in pairs 2 2 and 3 3, connecting pipes or boxes 6 6, up-

take-pipes 9 and 11, upper and lower sets of water-tubes communicating with such manifolds and forming a fire and fuel chamber between them, the lower set thereof constituting a water-grate, and supplemental sets of water-tubes arranged along the side walls of said chamber and-communicating with said boxes 6 6 and pipes 9 and 11.

2. In a downdraft-furnace, the combination of front and rear manifolds arranged in the furnace-chamber, a set of water-tubes forming a grate communicating between the manifolds and dividing the chamber into an upper, or fuel chamber and a lower or fire c amber, uptake-pipes communicating with the front manifold, pi es or legs depending from the rear manifoldi and a set of supplemental water-tubes communicating between suchu takei es and the de endin i es.

3. Iii a do izv fldraft-flu'nacg the o fn bination of front and rear manifolds arranged in the furnace-chamber, a set of water-tubes forming a grate communicating between the manifolds and-dividing the chamber into an upper or fuel chamber and a lower or fire chamber, uptake-pipes arranged to communicate between a boiler and the front manifold, pipes or le s and depending from the rear manifold near its ends, -and supplemental water-tubes communicating at their ends with the uptakepipes and depending pipes respectively.

4. In a downdraft-furnace, the combination ofthe upper and lower pairs of manifolds 2 and 3, boxes or pipes 6 connecting such manifolds, upper and lower water-tubes 4 and 5 connecting the members of the pairs of manifolds, u take-pipes 9 communicating with the front ower manifold, pipes 11 depending from the lower rear manifold, and two sets of supplemental water-tubes arranged along the side wall of the furnace and communicating respectively between the closed at their lower ends 7 boxes 6jand between the uptake-pipes and 45 S. E. HIBBEN, LoU1s B. ERWIN. 

